PRESS
RELEASE
310.450.8338, ext. 287 07 NOV 2007
SMMUSD Choir and Orchestra
Students Shine!
Twelve
SMMUSD students were chosen to perform in one of three American Choral Director
Association (ACDA) Western Division Honor Choirs during an upcoming February convention in Anaheim, CA.
Alba
Kane, Audrey Corsa, Jackie Murray, Aliza Abarbanel, Grace Gordon, Meghan
Aguilar, Francesca Ferrara, Zach Schaefer, Demetrie Martinez, and Isadora Lim
were chosen for the Jr. High/Middle School Choir, and Quinn D’Andrea and April
McCollough were chosen for the Elementary Honor Choir.
The
students will be given the opportunity to sing and rehearse with students from
all over the western United States under the direction of well-renowned choral
conductors.
“This is
a huge honor,” said their music instructor, Venessa Ventre. “These students competed against students
from all over California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah.”
The ACDA, founded in 1959, is a nonprofit music-education organization
whose central purpose is to promote excellence in choral music through
performance, composition, publication, research, and teaching.
Forty-five
SMMUSD high school students have been selected to participate in the 2007 CODA
(California Orchestra Directors Association) Honor Orchestra in Redlands, CA, in early December 2007.
Performing
in the CODA String Orchestra are Alex Clouse, Hannah McGinty, Zoe McBride,
Justin Yoo, Nicole Woon, Christina Kunimoto-Nakajima, Emilia Shaffer-Del Valle,
Keonjik Lee, Lucy Walsh, Carolina Vasquez, Dana Levin, Aaron Pomerantz, Emily
Getoff, Maki Nakamura, Max Tamahori, Rebecca Samuela, Stephanie Farzam, Erich
Wieshofer, Sam Bencivengo, Yarden Shwartz, Omar Cojulun (Alternate), and Alex
Davies (Alternate).
Performing in the CODA Symphony Orchestra are Connor Vance, Alan Miller, Ben Bartelt, Ellery Weiss, Emily Wong, Natalie Yadegar, David Mun, Jennifer Chyu, Krista Circenis, Laila Zakzook, Matthew Van Pelt, Mayura Jain, Tessa Waring, Jean-Michel Maldague, Maki Kubota, Dmitri Glickman, Joshua Kalmar, Richard Dobeck, Spencer Groh, Raquel Ravaglioli, Christie Glaser (Alternate), Rachel Horn (Alternate), and Sky Crane (Alternate).
“We are
so proud of our students,” commented Superintendent Dianne Talarico. “Our World Class music education is evident
in these talented students and their accomplishments.”
The CODA Honor Groups are designed to provide an opportunity for
talented musicians to perform challenging literature as a part of a select
concert ensemble, gain experience which they can share with their own school
groups, and realize inherent value in working with peers from other areas. For more information regarding
CODA, please visit http://www.codaorchestras.org/.
Three
SMMUSD students have been invited to participate in the 2008 National High
School Honors Orchestra (NHSHO), a
competition hosted by the American String Teachers Association (ASTA), in
Albuquerque, New Mexico, in late February 2008.
David Martinez, Bobby Birstock, and Ben Bartelt have been
invited to be a part of this exciting event.
These students, along with approximately 120 other students, will
perform at the ASTA national conference.
The mission of the National High School Honors Orchestra
is to competitively select the most talented young musicians from school
orchestras in each state to assemble biennially and perform in a national
showcase, playing music from the professional orchestral literature under the
direction of an internationally recognized conductor. The students working
toward excellence in the NHSHO are inspired to carry that excellence back to
their own schools and on to a musical future.
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SANTA
MONICA-MALIBU UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
1651 16TH
Street, Santa Monica, CA 90404
ph:
310.450.8338; fax: 310.581.1138; www.smmusd.org